I was just doing some budgeting, and I was wondering if we spent more or less on groceries a month than other families do.

There's 3 of us, with occasional grandparents for dinner (eating, not being eaten). I reckon we spend about $400-$500 a month... but I also have 2 extremely picky eaters on my hands. The DH and DS are persnickity.

I of course, realize that a bigger family will spend more.

Just curious is all.

"I don't know how old the devil was when he rejected God's authority, but my guess it would be 15"
- Parent of a 15 year old son -

I voted $500-600 but we really spend closer to about $700 for a family of 4. That amount inlcudes toiletries and household things like baggies, dishwasher soap, ect. We are probably an odd lot though since we eat as much organic as possible. That gets expensive when you have to buy organic meat (My husband can't live without meat at every meal - he has a very high metabolism and gets hungry in an hour or two without it - even if I feed him whole grains and fill him to the brim with fruits and veggies... but I digress.) We do buy our meat directly from a farm, so we get it somewhat cheaper than if we bought it at the store, but we have to buy in bulk from them to get the discount. We have a garden and can and dry foods for the winter. I make almost everything from scratch, I don't buy alot of those "prepackaged organic meals" that seem to be a trend.

We are a family of 5. I can normally keep the grocery bill to around $400 (give or take a bit) a month (ok, number 5 is only 13 months old). But whenever my husband visits the grocery store he pushes our costs to around $500 a month.

My estimation may not really be accurate, I have a large and well stocked pantry. So my estimate, to be accurate, is SPENDING not necessarily consumption. In addition, some months I spend a ton of money on meat during a sale, and then won't have to buy meat again for a month or two depending on how much I stocked up.

We don't buy sodas, I bake my own bread, cakes, cookies, we eat very little junk food, and we buy very little processed or prepackaged food.

Family of 3, about $200 every two weeks: $100 for staples, $20 at the butcher's, $20 at the organic farmer's, $10 at the baker's, the rest for side trips, work food, and eating out.

I don't buy many toiletries or paper products, buy really cheap detergent (Charlies), make my own dishwasher solution (baking soda in the tray, vinegar in the rinse cycle), use cloth napkins (and when there was a lil one, diapers, too), use natural/concentrated cleaning products, have a diva cup...heck, I don't even remember the last time I bought ziploc bags once in the past 6 months. Containers work better.

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."
- M. MontessoriProud non-member of the HSLDA

you all speak of eating organic and non-processed foods, that is pretty expensive!!

My husband was a bachelor dad with little cooking skills for quite awhile and he's gotten to the place where home cooked meals aren't his cup of tea. In fact, it seems the more time I work on a meal to make a nice meal the more he gripes about it. Now, if I throw fish sticks in the microwave and give him a bowl of corn and a dish of mac/cheese - he's thrilled to death. He had my 7 y/o during his learning to eat years alone and now that's all the 7 y/o wants. If it is remotely "home-made" he has a fit.

I get so tired of processed foods and crappy food like that. I often feed them that stuff and myself a nice piece of meat and a baked potato and lettuce and they think I'm just being gross. I just hate that.

"I don't know how old the devil was when he rejected God's authority, but my guess it would be 15"

kennys_mommy wrote:you all speak of eating organic and non-processed foods, that is pretty expensive!!

I think it depends on where you live. For us, eating non-organic is actually mroe expensive. I live on an island. The organic farmer is down the road, selling local produce. Non-organic food has to be flown in, raising the cost and lowering the shelf life. The butcher will cut my steak right there and I know it's locally grown, or I can buy low-oxygen packed meat for almost twice the price because it's been flown to us.

My husband was a bachelor dad with little cooking skills for quite awhile and he's gotten to the place where home cooked meals aren't his cup of tea. In fact, it seems the more time I work on a meal to make a nice meal the more he gripes about it. Now, if I throw fish sticks in the microwave and give him a bowl of corn and a dish of mac/cheese - he's thrilled to death. He had my 7 y/o during his learning to eat years alone and now that's all the 7 y/o wants. If it is remotely "home-made" he has a fit.

I get so tired of processed foods and crappy food like that. I often feed them that stuff and myself a nice piece of meat and a baked potato and lettuce and they think I'm just being gross. I just hate that.

I think you have to go little by little. We took some time and messed around with mac and cheese recipes having a taste test of the best - organic, Kraft, cheap-O, creamy style, and then one made of about 6 different cheeses and one that I just threw together with cheddar and a tiny bit of mustard and pepper. The homemade cheddar won by a landslide. We don't even bother with the boxed kind any more.

The same with chicken fingers, but the 9yo takes over that. He's really proud to have moved on from boxed/frozen food to creating his own.

You just have to move slow. And set firm "I won't let you treat me like that" rules with the dh. Griping about my cooking and not offering suggestions/help is a great way to have me not cook anything.

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."

We are a family of five and only have $100 a month left for groceries, in a good month. We eat a lot of rice but even that has got to where it is almost out of our price range. I don't think I would know what to do if I was actually able to go to the store w/out my calculator, coupons, and list. However I can feed five w/one chicken breast!

I search the computer for them and in some cases write the companies and ask for them. Really though the biggest thing that I do is buy clearance and I shop at Aldi's. For instance, the other day I bought post and general mills cereal. I got chocolate chex, kix, and one other, I can't remember what it was right now, and they were on clearance at Wal-Mart for 50 cents a box. They were regular sized boxes just on the clearance rack. I also got myself a box of kashi cereal on clearance that day for 60 cents. They had canned cheese spread for 25 cents a can so we got 4, my kids love that stuff. THey also had speghetti for 30 cents a pound, Welch's grape juice for 75 cents for a big 64 oz bottle, Kraft pasta salad double pack for $1.00 and crackers for 25 cents. Those are the deals that I use to stock up and then I only have to shop once a month, except for bread, milk, and eggs; those are weekly or biweekly purchases. But milk is rationed at my house, you get just enough for your daily needs and if you eat cereal w/milk you better drink that milk because it counts toward your daily limit. We also eat a lot of beans and use the turkey ham that is around 1.79/lb, at my grocery store anyway. With an appx. 3 lb ham I can make at least 5 meals. You just have to cut it up small or slice it thin. At our house food is fuel and not fun. I try to make it enjoyable to eat but we can't afford more than just the basics. We have to eat the poor man's meals and most people I know don't want to eat this way. In fact, unless it is on clearance, I don't even buy red meat. Luckily, my Food Lion clearances out their meat! The other thing I do is buy bulk and make my meals and freeze them, I just have to plan ahead.
I also can, freeze fresh beans and corn, and bake my own bread when I have the opportunity. This year I canned onions, pickles, and pickle relish. Last year I did applesauce and apple juice. I did enough of each that I could skip a year or two between the different foods because I can only afford do one type of food a year.

Here is my recipe for the meal that uses one chicken breast:
one 1lb box of pasta (your choice of shape) I like bow tie or cork screw for this
1 or 2 shredded carrots (wash and leave the skin on)
about 1/2 cup frozen peas
<any other veggie you want to add goes here>
1 chicken breast
either 1 envelope of ranch dressing mix or 1 bottle of 99 cent ranch dressing

Cook chicken and chop with chopper until crumbly or put through food processor to make crumbly (there should be no big pieces) set aside
cook pasta w/veggies-drain
combine pasta/veggies, chicken, and dressing mix or dressing (usually takes most of the bottle)
add any cold veggies like cucumber or tomatoes if you have them.

We eat just this for our meal and usually have a little left over. If I have it I might add a side of some kind of fruit but I usually don't have extra to spare.

We spend between $300 to $400 a month, usually $300.
When I shop I try to think of things that we can eat for a few days and stay away from prepackaged ready made meals.
My lists are very rigid. I allow one snack for everyone from Aldi's, that way we do not feel feel deprived. It is just the 3 of us, mom, dad, and boy age 7.
I try to get as much as I can from Aldi's and then we buy bulk from Sams Club. Anything we can not get at those places we get at Walmart.
I also we get all our meat from a whole sale butcher. We only shop every other week because we have to drive 40 minutes to the nearest city.
I print my lists up and then go online and look for coupons. I put up a menu on the fridge and my son gets to pick out what we will have for dinner that night.

I had a small basket yesterday for an emergency grocery run- and it was $70.00! I looked again- because I had hardly anything in there..and the total was right, to my dismay.
We are a family of 4 and we've been spending $220.00 per week with a total of $800.00 plus per month. That does include household items as well. I am trying to cut that back by eliminating snacks, but the healthy food costs even more, lol. If I could keep track and remember coupons it might help me (add), but I do try to buy the cheapest, best quality products I can find each trip. I absolutely HATE shopping trips to the grocery store- not enough check-out clerks- and long lines..and this isn't even Christmas yet? lol..

â€œWhen a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.â€

I would have to say we are in the $300 a month range. We are fortunate to be able to raise 2 cows a year, so our meat costs are around $300 a year total, and that does include butchering costs. I am able to buy my household cleaners and vitamins through a wellness company and I am now spending less that $50 a month on all of that, and that does include vitamins for my husband and myself, and for our 3 kids, all cleaning supplies including laundry, household cleaning, and personal hygene. I have gotten into the habit of shopping the grocery ads and I will spend my shopping day sometimes hitting 4 different stores to take advantage of their sales and coupons. We have started saving money since doing this.